Unlicensed Tour Guides Warned by BTB

People who are posing as tour guides and do not have certification from the Belize Tourism Board can also face penalties if they are caught operating or conducting tours.  Today the Belize Tourism Board issued a warning to people who do not have their licence to operate as prescribed under the laws of Belize.  According to the BTB’s Director of Quality Management, Capacity Development and Registrar of Hotel, Abil Castaneda, the BTB has just formed an enforcement unit because the number of persons operating without licences has also grown. Casteneda says they pose threat to the high standards that Belize has established as well as the livelihood of licensed tour guides who have spent their time and money getting certified.

Abil Castaneda

Abil Castaneda, Dir., Quality Management, Capacity Development, BTB

“One of the specific areas of concern that has been relayed to us from at the B.T.B., is from our tour guide and tour operators noting that there are many instances that there are suspected persons leading tours that are not properly licensed as per B.T.B recommendation. This is a concern for them, for many reasons, and for us as you can imagine, but for them it that we have approximately eighteen hundred licensed tour guide in the country as we speak. We have over three hundred tour operators and in both cases they have had to undertake extensive investments to be able to get to the point of being a train tour guide, a licensed tour guide and a licensed tour operator. And so when they see persons that are in many ways removing persons that they would be able to sell a tour to, it obviously concerns them. So from our end, the tour guide and the tour operator process, there is a lot that goes into it. There is a whole issue of liability that has to be taken into consideration, now a day with COVID safety and health issues are of a main concern. So, we want that our guests that come in to the country and even our Belizeans visitors to be at least reassured that the experience that they are receiving is not only high-class and memorable, but also that its legal.”